(note, Title copied from Global’s Twitter post on the article, which more clearly explains the concern, unlike the Headline).
This isn’t sketchy at all. It sounds an awful lot like price fixing… something Loblaws is intimately aware of having honed their skills for over two decades on staple foods we all need to live.
Now prescription drugs?
¿Por que no?
I have been intimately educated and brought up to speed on c/ADHD about how, in the US, you’re further limited to “in-network” pharmacies. Fuck this shit, regulators better shut this the fuck down. We are not becoming like the US any further as it relates to this stuff.
Anyone else with Manulife and seen this shit before?
Anyone else with Manulife and seen this shit before?
Not exactly the same, but under some of their plans, they cover 80% of the price, but at some specific partner pharmacies, they will cover 90 or 100% instead.
For my plan, the partner pharmacies are Costco and an online one. Not sure if it changes between companies/plans, or if those were just their current partners for everyone insured with them.
I’ve got this with my Canada Life coverage. I can get prescriptions at any pharmacy at 80%, but if I go to Costco pharmacy it’s 90% covered.
Ah, so they have a history of this.
Okay, straight up, wtf? It needs to become illegal right away, this is waaaaaaaaay too sketchy…
How the fuck is this even legal?
It is not quite as sketchy as it sounds, but it’s still bad.
The medications in question are specially medications such as biologics that have unusual requirements like needing to be administered via infusion in a clinic by a nurse, or ultra expensive medications that are 10,000$+ per dose that insurance companies don’t want mishandled and need to be discarded. All stuff that you wouldn’t normally be able to stock at your corner pharmacy.
The pharmacists need special training on these medications, by limiting it to a particular chain, in theory they can ensure better care (which in theory saves insurance companies on claims on medications that were improperly delivered.).
But still, there’re several specialty pharmacy chains that deal with these medications, patients should have the right to choose where they get their medication.
I have a prescription for biologics, and they come from a specialized pharmacy. It would surprise me if the fly-by-night pharmacists working at Shoppers Drug Mart would be trusted to handle those products.
So now we know who they have a deal with.
Under a new deal, Manulife will only cover medical visits performed by their in-house physicians, Doctor Nick and Doc Holiday.
People are going to be lining up days in advance for the upcoming Penicillin X Jordan crossover, available exclusively at Foot Locker.
It is not quite as sketchy as it sounds, but it’s still bad.
The medications in question are specially medications such as biologics that have unusual requirements like needing to be administered via infusion in a clinic by a nurse, or ultra expensive medications that are 10,000$+ per dose. Stuff you wouldn’t normally be able to stock at your corner pharmacy.
But still, patients should have the right to choose where they get their medication.
